A Redditor experiencing their fingers to be peeling after eating zucchini noted, “There's no pain or itchiness where the peeling is, just numbness at the tips of my fingers.” A chef explained the phenomenon, saying, “This is NOT your skin peeling off, and not some kind of medical reaction, or allergy to zucchini.” Here’s the real reason why your hands peel after cutting zucchini.

According to the chef, there's a “very fine ‘slime’ in the zucchini” that tends to stick to your fingers and stiffens after drying, and “the peeling is actually just the hardened slime coming off your hands.” The chef compared it to playing with glue as kids — “when we were kids, and used to put the Elmer's glue on your hand and wait for it to dry before peeling it off.”

The veteran chef suggested using a cleanser with scouring properties, recommending “something like an Ajax cleaner, or Barkeeper's Friend scouring cleaner” to remove these peels. Gluten-Free Homemaker explains that the peeling on your fingers is because the zucchini sap that’s designed to “dry out and protect the cut end” has the same effect on your skin.